Soil & Root Development

[farmer d]

I thought this might be a helpful topic for anyone who decides to plant outdoors.

Today I decided to replant my Exuberance plant even though it seemed to be doing good enough with average new spring growth.  When I originally planted it along with all my other cvs I used an organic soil mix that did not have any perlite.  This particular planter's soil is shaded most of the year due to a wall in front of it.  As a result the soil stays very wet.

After carefully observing Exuberance for almost a year I just didn't see the really robust growth I would have expected from a cv with such strong genes.  So after digging her up today it seems rather apparent that the soil was just too wet and heavy.  Not only is the root ball really small for a medium sized plant but the four or so roots that have grown out were all growing more horizontally as if trying to find soil that was not so saturated.

I didn't think the roots were this impacted but one sign it gave me back in early winter is it started leaning a lot on it's own and I had to stake it.  I expect this plant to really take off soon now that it has a large hole filled with premium soil and perlite.

Farmer D

[Charlie]

That's interesting, Farmer D. Soil can make a lot of difference, as you know. I look forward to seeing how this plant does now that it is planted in different soil. By the way, if you get any wilt after transplanting try misting the foliage a few times a day until it no longer wilts. This happens if there is too much loss of roots when transplanting until new fine roots grow back again.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

I'm not having a similar issue with some of my potted plants.  I switched soils last year and have been using Happy Frog potting mix.  It's a great mix, but I discovered through trial and error that there's not nearly enough perlite mixed in.  I now mix it 5 parts soil with one part perlite.

I planted a few plants last year before learning what ratio to use.  The Happy Frog retains much more water than needed for hibiscus, and now I have a few suffering plants.  While others are growing and are quite robust, these are taking much longer to recover and still look like they're coming out of winter.

I want to repot them with my new soil/perlite mix, but am a little hesitant as they're already stressed.  Do I need to rinse the root ball off completely, or just get rid of as much of the old soil as I can?

[davidwood]

Jordan I use a ratio of 25% Perlite and wished I had used 40%, to late now, I think I would do more harm than good by changing it.

I like Perlite but one of the problems I find with it is that with heavy watering it rises, by this I mean it tends to compact the soil at the top and push up the Perlite. You end up with a root ball that's to compact with potting mix [which restricts growth of the roots] and a sort of Perlite mulch at the top [which tends to blow away in a big wind].
I have got over that problem by using a mulch of sand, using sand at least the Perlite stays where its supposed to, and if you water the sand gently [sprinkler on the watering can] it stays looking attractive.

I have no idea what this Happy Frog stuff is you talk about, but my mix of Perlite and Rice ash I have discovered has amazing water retention properties and I have caused myself so many problems by over watering, having done a lot of research over the last few weeks on the Internet and experiments myself I have found that over watering is a far bigger problem than under watering [roots not developing, low PH so cant take up nutrients etc, strange really as we have never discussed it on here much at all and something we all need to be aware off.

I think one big mistake I made and I expect others have done the same is watering when you see the cv leaves go a bit limp in the sun, if I could give one bit of advise about growing in strong sun, DON’T, bring the cv [if you can] in out of the sun, if the leaves perk up within an hour or so then it does not need water and just put it back, keep watering it very time you get limp leaves not only are you  drowning the plant but it gets used to wanting and needing that water.
 Even if you cant bring it in don’t water [unless its obviously very stressed then you must], leaves tend to limp near the end of the day so hang on an hour or so and see if they will perk up when the temperature drops, if they do then they have not gone limp because of a lack of water, they have gone limp because they are not yet acclimatized to the sun.

[Charlie]

"Gardener, do no harm" maybe should be the first rule of gardening as with medicine. Please do not wash all the soil from the roots as you will inevitably damage the fine roots that the plants need to absorb water and nutrients. You can gently wash away some of the soil if you want to change it but don't remove too much.

Charlie

[farmer d]

Charlie is right on the money Jordan.  I can tell you from the replantpalooza I recently did there were a half dozen or so that I completely removed out of the ground and to another location.  I tried my best to keep as much of the soil that was embedded in the rootball as it was unless it was crappy clay soil which for me is the nemesis I am trying to eliminate then I would go into the ball and remove it.  I felt bad doing it but it was for a long term gain even if the plant went into total shock.  

Speaking of shock, I had some plants like the one pictured above - Exuberance that went into such severe shock that they became giant stick plants that just the last few weeks have started budding new leaves.  Tough stuff - and what I learned when they go into that kind of shock = don't water them!  Vin Beaujolais just looked dead for two months until I finally got it and moved away a sprinkler head to let the soil dry out and now it is suddenly leafing.

I think in your case the Happy Frog soil is a great one even with too much water retention so if you surround those rootballs with a better mix I think your plants won't see much shock.  I used Ocean Forest which is also from Fox Farms and I am amazed at how well it retains water too.  Much more than I anticipated so I've had to move away all my sprinklers so my hibs' roots can start breathing again.  

Sounds like we're all slowly figuring out how easy it is to overwater.  Very dangerous in winter when it is cold and root fungus is more prevalent.

Farmer D

[Ernest]

Darren, your replanting project was certainly a major undertaking. But all that work should pay off in improved growing conditions. Since you have a heavier clay soil, have you considered using gypsum to improve drainage? I put pelletized gypsum (brand name Soil Busters) at the bottom of every planting hole. Then I cover it with a layer of horticultural pumice. I also use the pumice as a mix with the potting soil rather than perlite. Unlike perlite, the pumice will stay in place and not float up with the water. I started using the pumice years ago when I was collecting cacti and succulents that needed excellent drainage. It's also cheaper than perlite as you can buy it in large bags at farm supply stores.
How are the plumeria cuttings from Kauai doing?

Erny

[Darkhorse]

Thanks Charlie, David and Darren.  I repotted some of the more unhealthy plants today, taking care to disturb the root ball as little as possible.  Hopefully I will start to see them recover soon.

Erny, I may have to look into pumice myself...

[farmer d]

One last thing that might be helpful - when I replanted my hibs recently I lined the bottom of the holes/trenches w/ Black Gold Cactus mix which I like a lot because it is has a very high concentration of perlite of all sizes and the perlite is super hard stuff to the point that it is hard to break in two.  So pretty much like pumice.

Erny here are two pics of my Kauai cuttings.  All are looking good and one is even producing a huge head of flower buds which is surprising considering they haven't even been planted for a month so I doubt there is much rooting action yet but what do I know...

Farmer D

[Ernest]

Darren, your plumeria cuttings look good. All plumeria root very easily over several weeks time. You can test by gently tugging up on the cutting--when well rooted they won't move much. It's probably a good idea to pot each cutting separately because the abundant fine roots will get tangled with those of the other cuttings and it may be difficult to separate them without losing some roots. But even if you do lose some it's not a huge problem because plumeria tolerate a lot of abuse and transplant very easily. It looks like you will have some flowers in a few weeks.

Erny

[farmer d]

For anyone interested here is what it looks like as I have removed all soil down 18" as I created a new planter segment.  This one is about 6 feet long and I had to mainly use my weeder (pictured) to dig out the petrified clay soil that is like cement in some spots when it is dry.  There used to be a cement pad here but that ain't doing me any good for growing space now is it?

Farmer D

[Charlie]

That's funny, Farmer D! Did you take a sledgehammer to the concrete pad? You are one dedicated gardener!!!

Charlie

[farmer d]

Yeah, why make it easy?  I did use a sledge hammer and a big chisel...the best part was there was iron caging mixed into the concrete so I could break it apart but then to actually remove it I had to painstakingly separate it out of the wiring.

Did I mention how extremely tired I am these days...

Now Flirtatious (on lft) and Ingenue along with one of my Kauai plumeria cuttings will have a new home.

Farmer D

[Ernest]

Darren, that's a lot of work to create new space for planting. If you get desperate for more room you can consider doing what I did--took out about 1000 square feet of lawn and Voila! space to plant about 75 more hibiscus. The soil under the grass (St. Augustine) turnedout to be great for planting.

Erny